Texas Jury Awards $56.6 Million to Fen-Phen User

This news update information page is intended to provide a summary of the recent legal and medical developments in the Fen-Phen diet drug lawsuits against American Home Products Corporation and Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories and A. H. Robins.

A Texas Jury awarded $56.6 Million Dollars to a fen phen user on April 5, 2001. This verdict against pharmaceutical manufacturer American Home Products Corporation is the largest lawsuit verdict for a single fen phen user to date. The Texas state court jury in Alice Texas awarded Gloria Lopez $11.6 million dollars in compensatory damages and $45 million dollars in punitive damages. Ms Lopez developed a leaky aortic heart valve after taking fen phen.

American Home Products, the company that manufacturered pondimin and redux, plans to appeal the verdict.

In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission American Home Products reported that it had settled 80% of the cases that opted out of the class action settlement. The Company says that leaves about 10,000 opt out cases that have not settled.

It is unknown how many other fen phen users will exercise an intermediate opt-out right under the class settlement to bring future lawsuits.

Please contact us though our contact page if you would like information on the pending cases in a specific state or if you would like us to find you an attorney in your state.

What Are These Diet Drugs? :
The combination use of Fenfluramine and phentermine and with dexfenfluramine is not approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), but was not illegal when these drugs were on the market. Doctors are generally permitted to make "off-label" or non-approved uses of drugs if the drugs are approved for any use.